The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1887-04-23
The BANK OE FRANCE.

trees are not found-Chicaqo Tunes.
THE BANK OF FRANCE.
A visit to One OF the Worlds Most Impor-
tant Financial Institutions.
A few evenings ago | attended a most
interesting reception In the Partisan
world-a reception where few for
cigners are ever admitted. 1t was given
by NJ. Magnin, governor of the Bank of
| France, on the occasion Of the eighty
seventh anniversary of the institution.
During the evening gathered much in
| formation, and rs il has never been
published, my American readers may
| find u few notes of value. After many
trials and failures, the great Bank of
| France was born with the nineteenth
century. In the beginning its capital
was thirty millions, represented by
thirty thousand shares of one thousand
francs each. and its shareholders were
Napoleon Bonaparte, Lucien Bona
parte, Hortense dc Beauharnais, Cam
baceres, Duroc and others less noted.
Its temporary home was the Hotel Mas
siac, in the Place des Victories In 1857
its capital was increased to s2,500.0OO
francs. Many special laws have been
enacted giving privileges to this bank
until December 81, 1897, privileges re-
newable after that date. The building
occupied by the Bank of France at the
present time has great Importance. 1t
is an irregular quadrilateral building,
surrounded by the Ru"s Croix dies Pc
tits s-Changes, de La Vrilliere, Bailiff ct
Radziwell. The public has entire con-
tdcnce in the Banque, and to merit this
confidence great precautions have been
taken to render private as well as pub
lie property safe. The fire brigade,
composed of firemen who once belonged
to the regiment of Paris, has apart
ments in the building; under one roof
are placed two immense reservoirs, and
sixty armoires contain lances ready to
throw Jets of water. Aside from the
tiremcn, no night t-watchmen are em-
ployed. The Hotel de In Vrilliere, oc-
cupied to-day by the Bank of France.
was built in 1885, after the designs OF
Francois Mansard. The building is
generally known under the name
of Hotel de Toulouse, because it
was bought in 1918 by Louis
Alexandre de Bourbon, Comte de
Toulouse. second son of Louis XIV.
and Nine. de Montespan. The Due dc
Ponthieon, who was the son of the
Comte de Toulouse. embellished the
hotel and gave it it's name. When he
died in 1898, the building was declared
national property and there the ma
tional printing house was installed. In
1908 the Emperor made decree that
the Hotel de Toulouse should become
the property of the bank for two mil
lion francs, but it was in 1911 that the
corporation removed from the Hotel
Massaic. Popular tradition gives the
vaults and the fabrication and destruc-
ton of bank notes in the Banque dc
France profoundly mysterious reputa-
ton. The vaults, locked, relocked and
locked again, are never seen except by
, the guardians, but by special permis-
= sion the precious billctts We're exhibited
:, to me. In the beginning bank notes
were black, but this color Is too easily
photographed. In 1862 blue was
chosen. They are all blue with the ex-
ception of the 5000 francs, created in
: 1910, which was red. Never more than
400 cuttings of this note We're made,
and of these there are but five in
:, circulation at present The figures
printed on the notes are their means of
identification, and the combinations arc
so numerous that each note has its own
mark. A note passes through twenty
threeeoperations from the time it is first
engraved until the signature of the first
, cashier is placed upon it. The surveil'
, , lance is so severe that workmen can no,
= take even Il clipping of paper. After
each impression women are employed
to count and recount the papers and
place them in packages of one thousand.
The color of the blue ink is unchange-
n able, and its composition is Il secret
u These notes leave the bank crisp ant
L bright to return in less than two year:
v torn, soiled and often altogether illeg-
. ible, having made the tour of France
y perhaps of the world. AS they are
brought back and judged unworthy fol
use, after many formalities they are de
II stroyed in the presence of the regents
= At one time the worthless notes Were
: burned, but now they are reduced IL
S paste; two enormous cylinders receive
y one ton of bank notes. Water is ther
poured upon this mass, the oriiice of th
$ cylinder closed and sealed and the who'll
u is cooked forty-eight hours. Avery flint
v blue paste is the result, and this is solo
by weight for the manufacture of paste
u board The notes in circulation at thi:
moment represent $500, 900, 900 francs
}. and since its creation the bank ha
u issued 800, 100000.
;, The governor of the Bank of Franco
Il is M. Magnin, II faithful representative
o of the Government presided over by M
p Jules Grevy, and himself vice-presiden
u of the Senate. The general council il
Q composed of two Acknowledgements
u three honorary Acknowledgements
u and fifteen regents, among these. Barol
Alphonse de Rothschild and Barol
1t Hottinguer, all chiefs of great Frenc
IS banking houses. Several times has TIN
e Bank of France been in n position t.
70 ronI or sarv;ca u, tha Gnvnrnmnn nm n